Identifying Old Fishing Flies

The question, "How old are these fishing flies?" may be answered quite easily with a trip to the localfly shop. It may also lead the questioner down a path filled with twists and turns, perhaps neverleading to a definitive answer, but with fascinating discoveries all along the way, a journey notunlike fly fishing.

For generations, fishermen have applied their creative geniusto the task of making bits of fur and feathers into somethingthat will fool a fish. Hundreds of patterns, with countless

variations for each, have been imagined, tied, and tried, with varying results. Most of these havebeen soaked and chewed into mangled uselessness, lost in overhanging tree limbs, or carried off incurrents by fish that would surely have been trophies had they been landed. Some, however, havesurvived, tucked away in forgotten pockets, drawers, and boxes. Eventually, they are discovered,inspiring their finders to wonder who made these beautiful, delicate works of pragmatic art, andwhen, and to what purpose?

Modern Fishing Flies

The curious owner of unidentified flies can begin his quest by comparing them to those outfitterscurrently offer. To the uninitiated, the array of patterns available for categorization may beimpossibly daunting. He can make the task easier by consulting an insider. Employees at a fly shopor members of fly fishing or fly tying clubs will be able to narrow the choices, and perhaps identify amystery fly right away. Another method is to post pictures of the flies on the pages of fishingorganizations at social networking sites. In most cases, someone will be able to identify the flies. Ifthey are variations on commercially available patterns, an aficionado will be able to recognize them.

The basic fly-fishing arrangement of long, flexiblerod, smoothly operating reel, line, leader, tippet,and fly has remained essentially the same over theyears, for the reason that it is hardly likely thatanyone will invent anything more delightful to use.Most delightful of all the fly angler's tackle is thattiny, terminal bit that makes all the difference -the fly.

One immediate giveaway to the relative age of fishing flies is the materials from which they areconstructed. Synthetics mean the fly is of newer origin, of course. Of greater interest are flies madefrom natural materials that are no longer commercially available. Eric Leiser's book,Fly-TyingMaterials (Crown Publishers, Inc., 1973) has a chapter devoted to listing and describing severalnatural materials which, although prized for tying certain patterns, were then unobtainable due tobeing from endangered species or subject to importation laws. Among these are feathers from thejungle cock, condor, and plover.

Identifying old flies poses some different problems. Most old fishing flies were used for trout fishingor salmon fishing, although there were always a few stubborn nonconformists who insisted oncasting flies to other species. In general, old flies that mimic insects which ride on top of the water

were intended for trout fishing. Large, old flies that were tied in streamer patterns, intended to befished under the surface, were meant for salmon fishing. Smaller streamers were used in troutfishing in the twentieth century, especially in the American West. Of course, one must rememberthat these are generalities. Fly fishermen fished all kinds of flies in all kinds of waters, with varyingdegrees of success. These features are but clues.

Antique Fishing Flies

Sometimes the flies will be accompanied by other clues to their age and origin. They may bediscovered along with a cache of fly-tying materials, and these may still be in their original, markedpackaging. Occasionally, the flies will have been purchased, and envelopes and even letters thataccompanied them will be found. A website featuring several beautiful flies which were discoveredin 1948 and are believed to have been purchased prior to 1905 is available for folks who may want tocompare their flies to the photographs.